Cedric Lee linked to Hayden-Katrina sex videos?

Report by Anthony Taberna, ABS-CBN News

MANILA - Did the group of businessman Cedric Lee have a hand in the uploading of sex videos of Hayden Kho on the Internet?

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said she received a request from the lawyer of actress Katrina Halili to investigate the claims that Lee had a hand in the spread of Kho's sex videos. Halili is one of the actresses who was seen in the videos.

Raymund Palad, Halili's lawyer, said there is a pattern of extortion linked to Lee's group. He said it was Kho who first revealed that Lee was trying to extort money from him.

Lee, Zimmer Raz, model Deniece Cornejo, and several others are facing serious illegal detention and grave coercion charges in connection with the mauling of comedian Vhong Navarro last January 22.

Navarro earlier revealed that he was beaten up by Lee's group inside Cornejo's condo unit. He said the group threatened to expose a video of his private parts if he did not pay P2 million from him.

Lee denied Navarro's statements, saying that he and his friends caught the comedian trying to rape Cornejo.

In the earlier sex scandal, Kho was stripped of his doctor's license after his sex videos were posted on the Internet. Kho admitted that he made the videos but said someone else posted them online. The scandal was later investigated by Sen. Ramon "Bong" Revilla Jr.

Halili later filed a criminal and libel case against Kho and his mother, Irene, for the latter's statements against her.

In her judicial affidavit, Mrs. Kho included an audio recording of a meeting between Hayden, her and a group affiliated with Lee.

Kho said that before the sex scandal started, the group was trying to extort P4 million from him or else the videos would come out.

De Lima has ordered the National Bureau of Investigation to probe Lee's possible involvement in the Hayden Kho sex scandal.

"We are conducting an investigation. we will have to refer to the audio recording that was submitted to the court by Mrs. Kho," said NBI Cybercrime Division chief Ronald Aguto.

Meanwhile, Lee's lawyer criticized the DOJ for trying to link his client to another scandal.

"I don't have any knowledge of this issue. However, if true that the DOJ is again trying to pin my client in another unfounded issue, it just shows the bias of DOJ against my client. I hope that my client's name and reputation won't be dragged unjustly to satisfy purposes and objectives only known to DOJ and some individuals," Lee's lawyer, Howard Calleja, said.